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Oxford’s COVISHIELD vaccine’s phase 2 and 3 trials will begin in Mumbai’s King George hospital by the end of August.

The King Edward memorial hospital in Parel, Mumbai will soon start the phase 2 and 3 of human trials of the Oxford’s and AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine Covishield. India is among the handful of the countries where human trials for this vaccine are being carried out outside of the UK.

Dr. Hemant Deshmukh, dean of the King George hospital spoke to India Today and said that the trials would begin by the end of August.

Covishield has bagged the world’s attention after it showed promising results in the phase 1 human trials conducted in the United Kingdom.

In a latest development, ICMR has granted approval to Mumbai’s King George Memorial hospital to conduct phase 2 and 3 trials of the Oxford University’s coronavirus vaccine.

As per latest reports, the Mumbai’s hospital has already started enrolling volunteers for the trial process.

Here are some of the details of the Phase 2 and 3 trials to be conducted in Mumbai:

How many people will participate in the trials?

According to King Edward hospital, a total of 160 healthy people from Mumbai will take part in the phase 2 and 3 trials of COVISHIELD.

Who all are eligible for the trials?

Dr. Hemant Deshmukh said that anyone above 18 years of age with no ailments or any persistent diseases are eligible to volunteer for the trials.

Can the COVID-19 positive patients participate?

The hospital rules state that the person participating in the human trials should not have been exposed to COVID-19. Moreover, the hospital staff will be carrying out the RT-PCR test on all participants to ensure none of them are infected with the virus.

Can recovered patients participate?

As the recovered people will already develop the antibodies in their immune system they will not be allowed to participate in the human trials of phase 2 and phase 3.

How will the trials be conducted?

The trials will be carried out on an outpatient basis which means the participants need not get admitted to the hospital. An intramuscular injection will be given and the participants may suffer with mild fever after getting the injection shots.

How can people opt for trials?

The King George Memorial hospital staff has already been receiving calls of participants willing to take the shots and the hospital has given two dedicated numbers- 24133767 and 24174420 for people who want to enquire on their eligibility for the trials.

The phase 2 and 3 of the Oxford’s vaccine will be carried out at 10 centers in India for which 1600 people will be roped in to participate.

By Gayatri Yellayi